Our Story

Patriot Service Dogs is more than a non-profit organization—we are a community. Get to know us, our mission, and what makes PSD unique.

Patriot Service Dogs at a Glance:

Patriot Service Dogs trains high-quality service dogs for military veterans, using the skills and dedication of incarcerated women. This dual purpose allows us to serve veterans and to uplift incarcerated women with life and job skills.
A supportive community of veterans, volunteers, and incarcerated women brought together by well-trained service dogs.
We can strengthen our entire community through our hands-on work and dedication to providing quality service dogs for veterans.

65 Veteran/Service Dog Teams

18 Puppies in Training

450 WOOF Program Participants

70 Active Volunteers

The History of Patriot Service Dogs:

Patriot Service Dogs (PSD) was founded in 2009 by Julie Sanderson and Susan Bolton. Both women had volunteered and worked for multiple service dog organizations and knew the comfort and assistance a well-trained dog could bring to individuals in need. Seeing a specific need in the veteran community, Sanderson and Bolton created their own nonprofit organization to provide service dogs exclusively to veterans. PSD began to grow with a small volunteer team, one puppy donated from Country Goldens Tennessee, and $2,000 in the bank.

In 2011, PSD began the WOOF Prison Program at Lowell Correctional Facility, Florida's largest women's prison. Initially, the service dogs in training only spent a few weeks out of their two-year training in the WOOF Program, but over time, as the training program developed, the WOOF Program became a cornerstone of PSD training. Now, WOOF Program trainers participate in all aspects of service dog training, from puppyhood to advanced training with veterans. In return for the hard work, PSD developed a dynamic educational and life coaching program for the inmate-trainers. Today, WOOF is a service dog training program and a reentry program for the training.

In 2022, PSD became an accredited Assistance Dogs International (ADI) member. With fewer than 150 organizations awarded membership worldwide, PSD is very proud of this achievement. ADI accreditation ensures that PSD follows the highest standards in the assistance dog industry.

Today, PSD is a unique community of veterans, incarcerated women, volunteers, and sponsors dedicated to a mission. While the organization could no longer fit around a kitchen table, PSD has never strayed from the original ethos of a small organization committed to quality and community.

PSD in the media

See our dogs, volunteers, veterans, inmate-trainers, and organization president.

Patriot Service Dogs Reflect On Winning Defender Service Awards 2022 by Land Rover USA

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Dog training program at Lowell Correctional Institution changes inmates’ lives by WUFT

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Artist creates portrait of wounded vet and service dog by Nashville News 5

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How does PSD think of ourselves?

We often compare ourselves to an independent neighborhood store.

PSD offers similar “products” to much larger organizations, but we know what we provide on a much more personal level. We know our dogs individually, our veteran recipients remain a part of our community, and our volunteers and sponsors are on a first-name basis with our organization's president. For some veterans, volunteers, and donors, that personal ethos is what they seek in a service dog training organization.

On the other hand, there are much bigger organizations with much more funding that can provide a different experience. PSD does not have a separate team to process veteran applications, so it can take us longer to get in touch with new applicants. We do not have professional spokespeople, so there are speaking engagements and networking opportunities we have to miss. And with only a handful of dogs in training at one time, we only average 5-6 graduates per year.

PSD Co-founder and President says, “Growth is not my goal; constantly improving is my goal. I never want to lead an organization so big that I don’t know every dog in training. Could we raise more funding if we placed more dogs, probably, but at what cost?”